Center Ice Standard Def? in 2011? what?

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aa9vi

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Sep 14, 2007
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Why was last night's regular season game between TOR and MTL in standard def on 770? 770-1 had nothing on it. This was a CBC feed that obviously had HD available. There was no HD feed available on any other channel. The strange thing is that directv picked up some Prince Edward Island feed instead of the Toronto or Montreal local station feed. Very weird. Do they only have SD in PEI and if so why not pick up a larger market that had HD available. This is 2011. Every NHL game should be in HD unless they are run by a hillbilly production crew. Is directv not ponying up for the feeds because I sure as hell am every year...
 
Canadian feeds in most cases will not be shown in HD on NHLCI....plain and simple

Dish didnt carry it in HD
Directv didnt carry it in HD

This is nothing new honestly. If a Canadian team is involved it wont be in HD on that feed (if they play a US team the US feed usually is in HD). I think there are some Leafs games that are in HD on NHL CI but dont quote me on it.

It was in HD as I watched it via the CBC but if you read about NHL CI it doesnt say "all games in HD"...its says "Plus, most of the games are available in HD*"
 
DirecTV is setup to receive SportsNet Ontario in HD for Blue Jays games as part of MLB:EI, so any Leafs games that specific channel will be in HD on Center Ice.

The only HD CBC feed will be when the NHL Network picks up the HNIC feed.

For all the other Canadian feeds, it's going to be SD for the foreseeable future.

Technically the "blame" lies with the NHL -- any provider that doesn't otherwise have access to a feed is only supplied a SD master feed from the NHL.
 
Technically the "blame" lies with the NHL -- any provider that doesn't otherwise have access to a feed is only supplied a SD master feed from the NHL.

In what way? Does the NHL say the USA can't have Canadian HD feeds? It doesn't make any sense. If the game is on CBC or TSN, regardless of whether it is on NHLN or not, it should be in HD. The regional Mister Rogers SportsNets might not provide an HD broadcast in some cases, and I can understand that. But the others? There is no logical reason.
 
In what way? Does the NHL say the USA can't have Canadian HD feeds?
The NHL only provides a set of SD feeds to the providers that sign up to carry the Center Ice package. For the HD feeds, the providers need to negotiate independently with the networks broadcasting the games. (that's why, for example, DirecTV got cut off from providing MSG/MSG+ in HD for Center Ice a couple years ago) The US feeds are easy because DirecTV already has negotiated broadcast rights for the HD feeds of all the major regional sports networks as part of their standard service offering.

It doesn't make any sense. If the game is on CBC or TSN, regardless of whether it is on NHLN or not, it should be in HD. The regional Mister Rogers SportsNets might not provide an HD broadcast in some cases, and I can understand that. But the others? There is no logical reason.
There are 2 logical reasons: Transponder space and cost.

DirecTV negotiated for SportsNet Ontario because it gets them MLB Extra Innings feeds for the Blue Jays for 120+ games of the 162 game season plus they can pull in the Leafs feeds for Center Ice.

As much as it kills me to say this as a hockey fan, there simply isn't enough financial incentive from Center Ice subscribers for DirecTV to work out negotiating broadcast rights with CBC, TSN, and Rogers for the rest of the SportsNet channels to cover a few dozen Canadian-only games.
 
I believe MLB gives every provider all the equipment to receive every HD feed for Extra Innings.
 
The regional Mister Rogers SportsNets might not provide an HD broadcast in some cases, and I can understand that.
I dont see why not. They are in HD to begin with and the Canadian version of NHL CI has them in HD
 
I believe MLB gives every provider all the equipment to receive every HD feed for Extra Innings.
I'm pretty sure they don't.

Both Center Ice and MLB:EI are brokered out to individual cable systems (and FiOS) through InDemand which packages everything for them. I haven't checked this season, but when a friend of mine worked there last year they were only producing 2 HD channels for the sports packages. The problem is that the cable companies don't have the frequency real estate to broadcast more HD games (Verizon FiOS does, but they have too small of a market share for InDemand to care), so they just produce what most cable companies are willing to carry.

I believe all of last year there were 2 ways you could get MLB:EI games all in HD: DirecTV, or subscribe to mlb.tv, because the league has contracts to receive the master streams as part of the broadcast rights.

If there were more pressure from InDemand and DirecTV pushing the NHL for HD feeds, I'm sure they would make the investment. Right now, I think DirecTV is content to air 90%+ of the games in HD based on the feeds they already carry with national RSN service, and InDemand couldn't use the feeds even if they were made available.
 
While the cable companies do get everything from InDemand, DirecTV deals directly with the leagues for carriage agreements. BTW, I believe InDemand has increased their HD feeds to nine from the two previously available.
 
InDemand is the provider in that case and gets all the equipment it needs to receive every SD and HD feed. How InDemand distributes that to individual cable companies is up to InDemand.
 
I'm pretty sure they don't.

Both Center Ice and MLB:EI are brokered out to individual cable systems (and FiOS) through InDemand which packages everything for them. I haven't checked this season, but when a friend of mine worked there last year they were only producing 2 HD channels for the sports packages. The problem is that the cable companies don't have the frequency real estate to broadcast more HD games (Verizon FiOS does, but they have too small of a market share for InDemand to care), so they just produce what most cable companies are willing to carry.

Thats not true Time Warner Tonight has 5 early (east coast) games in HD tonight and 2 late (west coast) games in HD.
 
Thats not true Time Warner Tonight has 5 early (east coast) games in HD tonight and 2 late (west coast) games in HD.
Consider yourself lucky; that's certainly the exception and not the rule.

Here's all the TV providers who source from InDemand: MSO | iN DEMAND

If you look up the offerings, the overwhelming majority top out at 2 HD sports channels, with many having only 1.
 
Consider yourself lucky; that's certainly the exception and not the rule.

Here's all the TV providers who source from InDemand: MSO | iN DEMAND

If you look up the offerings, the overwhelming majority top out at 2 HD sports channels, with many having only 1.

Of course since I am from NY State, I get all of the MSG feeds in HD. That is probably more a factor of Time Warner rather than NHLCI.
 
I have always figured that they don't give US subscribers a lot of the Canadian games in HD is because of bandwidth issues, and they figure 1) if a Canadian team is playing a U.S. team there will probably be a U.S. network HD feed, 2) if two Canadian teams are playing each other, interest in the U.S. wouldn't be that great.

Having said that.....

HNIC games have been shown in HD on NHL Network for the last couple of seasons. And I am watching the HD broadcast of Montreal-Calgary from TSN in HD right now.
 
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